THE Hymn from whence these Words are taken, is so well known by being made a part of the constant Service of the Church, that I need not mention either the Author or Occasion of them; Every body knows When they were spoken and by Whom, sees Who it is they point to, and is before-hand with me in the application of them to the Day; Which the Church hath set apart to commemorate that great Mystery, the Manifestation of the Messiah to the Gentiles, a Mystery hid from Ages and Generations, but now made known in the Per­sons of the Wise Men; who by the Lead­ing of a Star came from the East to Jeru­salem to pay their homage to the New-born King: For they were the First-fruits of the Gentiles; in Them was this Manifestation, not only signified and shadowed forth, but actually begun; so soon did the Messiah the Glory of Is­rael begin to be a Light to the Gentiles also.

This is a Day much to be remembred in it self; and as 'tis the last of the Solemnity of this Season, so is it the great Reason we remembred those that went before it: For what if Christ were in the fulness of Time Born of a pure Vir­gin, what if he were Circumcised the Eight day, and made obedient to the Law; what had these things been to us, or what Interest had we had in them, if He that was Born and Circumcised, had not been Manifested to us?

If we have any Sense of the Misery the Gentile World had hitherto, and would have still continued to lie under, if the Messiah had not been reveal'd at all; and the yet greater Evils they must have undergone, if he had been reveal'd in the manner the Jews expected; we shall see abundant Rea­son to celebrate this Day, and joyfully acknow­ledge the Goodness of God to us, in that Ma­nifestation of His Son, which we now comme­morate. And if a Sense of being deliver'd from our Misery, if a Sense of having the greatest Evils remov'd far from us, be sufficient to excite Joy and Praise, and Thanksgiving in us; much more will our Rejoycing be increas'd, much greater will our Obligations be, when we consi­der the Favours and Blessings we do or may enjoy, if it be not our own Fault, in the room of those Evils, which we must have been other­wise exposed to.

If the Messiah had not been revealed at all, the World would still have lain in Sin, in Blind­ness and great Darkness, and had neither known God, nor been known by Him; they would have been still wandring after their own Imagina­tions, and either not searched, or search'd in vain for any real Happiness; their Wisdom must still have ended in extreme Folly, and they at last forc'd to sit down, after having tired themselves in endless Mazes and Uncertainties, in profound Darkness, and in the Shadow of Death. Such would have been the wretched State of Man, had the Mes­siah never come, or which is all one, had never been revealed to us; for such it was before He came, as I shall shew more at large by and by, and such it still is in those parts of the Gentile World, where the Light of the Gospel has never Shone.

But Worse, much Worse had our Condition been, if the Messiah had been revealed in the manner the Jews expected; then indeed He had been a Light to the Gentiles, but not to Lighten and Comfort, and give Life to; far from that, He would have been a Light Dreadful and Ter­rible, to Burn up and to Destroy the Nations of the Earth, as many as would not bow their Neck to the Jewish Yoke; which was now, in the ful­ness of Time to be laid on all People, and be, as they thought, Universally Submitted to: for they expected the Messiah should be a Mighty Deliverer, a Glorious Conquerour, One that [Page 4] should lift up his Voice on High, that should be Dreadful to the Kings of the Earth, and sub­due all People to Himself. They expected a Star should arise out of Jacob, and a Sceptre out of Judah, that should smite the Corners of Moab, and destroy all the Children of Seth.

These were the Expectations of the Jews; which had they been fulfilled, had the Messiah appeared, as they flattered themselves He would; they in­deed would have had great Reason to Rejoyce: for to see the Slavery they were under, for in truth their Subjection to the Roman Yoke was little better, to see that not only changed into a Glo­rious Liberty, but to have themselves the Power of the World in their own Hands; to see all Na­tions and Kingdoms fall down before them; but above all, to have it now their turn to Rule over those, who at present Ruled it over them; this would have been matter of great Joy to any People, tho' they had been more Considerable, had Suffered less, and had had a better Temper than the Jews. But how great soever their Joy would have been on this Occasion, the rest of the World would have had little Reason to join with them; their Portion would have been to Lament themselves and their hard Fortune, their Sorrow would have rise with the Calamities this State of Things would have reduced them to, and both would have increased in proportion to the Prosperity and Joy of this little People; [Page 5] who confined to a narrow Corner of the World, now made no Figure, were no Terrour to their Neighbours, but lived to themselves, Despising and Despised.

But, Thanks be to God, this is not the Case; their Expectations are so far from being ful­filled, that the exact Reverse of them is come to pass. They are so far from being the only People whom the Lord hath Redeemed, so far from engrossing the Blessings of the Messiah to themselves, that they are almost the only Nation that has had no part in them: For God hath given them the Spirit of Slumber, Eyes that they should not see, and Ears that they should not hear: They stumbled, they fell, and thro' their fall Sal­vation is come unto the Gentiles. So great is the Goodness and Severity of God; on them which fell, Severity; but Goodness towards us. His Severity indeed is by no means matter of Joy to a Good Man; far be those Thoughts from us, we ought rather to pity their great Unhappi­ness, and pray for the Time when God will have Mercy on his Ancient People; but we ought to make this Use of it, it should teach us to set a greater value on his Goodness, who have received such undeserved and unexpected Favours from Him, When we were no People, when we sought Him not, nor asked after Him; and that not in common and together with them who were His People, and whose God He had [Page 6] declared Himself to be; but what is much more surprizing, they had no Share in them; The cast­ing them away was the Reconciling of the World.

That we may the better understand the Great­ness of this Mercy, and have a due Sense of the Obligations it brings with it, I shall consider,

First, the State of the Gentile World before our Saviour came;

Next wherein the Enlightning it consisted; and

In the Last place make some Application of the Whole.

First, To consider the State of the Gentile World before our Saviour came, we find it fre­quently represented to us in the Scriptures un­der one Word, and that is Darkness; To give Light to them that sit in Darkness; Ye were some­time Darkness; but now are ye Light in the Lord; who hath called you out of Darkness, into mar­vellous Light; We are not of the Night, nor of Darkness; Who hath delivered us from the power of Darkness; with many more places of the like nature, in all which the Word Darkness i [...] [...]d to represent the Sad Condition the [...]rld was in, before the Messiah was Mani­fested to them: Sad indeed it was, if this be a just Name for it; For Darkness we ha [...] all a [Page 7] great and natural Aversion to, 'tis a State of Inactivity, deprives us of all the Use and Plea­sure of the Day, and is utterly unfit for Motion; we either cannot move, or cannot be sure we move aright; 'tis a time fit only for the Beasts and Men of Prey to move in; for we want the Benefit of the Noblest and most Useful Sense we have, our Sight; without which the Rest are of very little Use, either to keep us from the Dangers which we should otherwise bring upon our selves, or to defend us from the Insults and Injuries of others. In a word, there is nothing creates a greater, or more universal Fear, than long or unusual Darkness; and nothing but Custom, and the help of Artificial Light, recon­ciles us to what is usual. What then can a State of Darkness mean less than a Wretched, Ignorant, Uncomfortable State; a State full of Confusion and Error, of Corrupt Opinions, and Abominable Practices; a State Hideous and Ugly as the first Chaos, when the Earth was without Form and Void; and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep?

Now that the State of the Gentile World before our Saviour came, was a State of Darkness, and deservedly 'called by so Black a Name, must be owned by all who have e­ver look't into these Times, and considered the Particulars wherein this Darkness consi­sted; which, were they all put together, [...]ould [Page 8] give us a just Conception of that Universal Night, which was then spread over the Intelle­ctual World. The great Ignorance they were under, and the Consequences of it, would give us such a frightful Scene of things, as one can hardly tell how to Believe; or Believing, how to Reconcile it with the Wisdom and Goodness of that Being, whose Eyes are always upon the Works of his hands, and who from the Begin­ning Ruleth over All. The first and great Fun­damental Error they were in, was concerning the True GOD; their Notions were so contrary and inconsistent upon this Head, that one can't read them without deeply and frequently Re­flecting, how Poor and Low a Thing the Mind of Man is, when he Attempts to comprehend Divine Truths. The World was divided in­to two Extremes; they were either for many Gods, or none at all; Opinions almost as re­mote from Truth, as from one another. The Oldest indeed, and always most Universal Opi­nion, and which perhaps arose from the Scat­tered and Corrupt Remains of some Ancient and Genuine Traditions, was that of many Gods: But this was so absurd in it self, and all it's Con­sequences; their Number, Names, Actions, Offices, Worship and Sacrifices, were so very un­accountable, so impossible to be made Sense of; that when the World grew more refined, the Men of Penetration and Thought, to mend the matter, betook themselves to the opposite Ex­treme; [Page 9] and because they could no where meet with a Rational Religion, vainly concluded that Reason and Religion were in their Natures in­consistent; they concluded no Religion could be True, because all they had seen were certainly False. For they were in almost every Country different at the same time, and in the same Coun­try at different times: they worshipped they knew not what nor why, they worshipped Stocks and Stones, and under them Imaginary Beings infinitely above Humane Nature, toge­ther with others as much below it.

We have an Epitome of the grossest and foulest Superstition the World ever knew, in that one People the Egyptians: Nothing can be more ridiculous, than what the best Writers tell us of their Gods, and their Religious Rites; and in their Story we see in effect the Religions of other Nations. For Egypt was the great Nursery of Superstition; from thence arose that thick Darkness, which afterwards overspread the Earth; not that this Darkness was every where uniformly spread; as soon as it began to be diffus'd, 'twas divided and broke into une­qual parts, insensibly altered as it went along, and received different Additions, according to the several Climates to which it came. By which means their Religions by degrees differed more from one another, but not less from Reason than before. Sacred and Prophane were every [Page 10]where arbitrary things, and sometimes names directly opposite were given to the same thing by different Orders of Men in the same Coun­try. There was nothing so absurd which Super­stition could not lead them into a Belief of; and if one may judge of what they thought by what they did, one would think, the more absurd a thing was, the more they liked it: otherwise one can't imagine how the World could have fall'n into so great a variety of Errors, so very gross, with so small a mixture of Truth in them; which, as it was very little, so very probably 'twas ow­ing not to any right Reasoning; for had they reasoned about these things rightly, they must needs have found out more Truth, they could not have stopped so very short, and have taken up with so few right Notions, so extremely dis­guised with false ones. These therefore 'tis likely were borrowed from some Traditions, which once were more perfect, but now were grown very old, and by length of time, and frequent Transplanting so altered and defaced, that the first Authors of them would scarce have known them; so little of the Genuine parts remained, and the old Strokes were in a manner all gone. Else how could things so incoherent be embraced, as there was in most of their Religions? how was it possible so many and so different Persua­sions could be deductions from the same com­mon Principles?

'Tis hard to conceive how the Opinions of any one People, taken together, could proceed from any Principles at all: nor indeed did they; these Religions were then form'd when the World were children in Understanding; when they ad­mired every thing, and understood nothing; nothing of Arts and Sciences, nothing of the Causes and Natures of things, in a word, no­thing beyond their Senses, and what was just before their Eyes; and by that means became an easie Prey to a few, who thought farther than the rest, and used them as we use Children now; amused them with Fables and strange Stories, and lead them which way they would, by complying with their Superstition; to which purpose they took care the Doctrines they taught the People, should be absurd enough, and well adjusted to the Lowness of their Understandings. This was really the case, and no better; for the Fabulous Age of the World was the time when these seve­ral Religions were first invented, and their Poets were the Authors of them; of which the Eldest either never wrote, or at least nothing of their genuine Writings is now left: but of the Poets which do remain, we find always the oldest, as had in greatest Veneration, so be sure most ab­surd in matters of Religion.

The World in the mean time was like to thrive and grow in Understanding, under the Influence of such Teachers, and in embracing Schemes of [Page 12]Religion formed in such Times, Times of which we know nothing certainly besides their Igno­rance. Yet Considerations of State, Management of designing Men, and the Interest that a great many had in them, kept these Superstitions up in after-times; the bulk of the People being as ignorant as ever, and still believing whatever they were taught. There were, no doubt, some wise and honest Men, who saw the Absurdity of these things, and would have declaimed sooner and more loudly against them, but were deter­red, 'tis likely, from the Attempt, partly by the Danger they might bring upon themselves, and partly thro' a very right Opinion they had, that Religion was necessary for Society; and that tho' the establish't one were very faulty, there might be more inconvenience in labouring a Change; especially since they could not be sure what Religion was true, to bring in the room of it, or indeed whether any were so: besides it may be they thought, that in that State of things Prejudices were necessary to make the People have any notion of Religion; and therefore if they were once removed, the People, who are always ready to run into extremes, and if once unhinged, are very hard to be settled again, if they had shaken off the Religion they were bred in, would then perhaps take up with none at all. Some such Thoughts probably kept in the Wiser Heathens from exposing the Folly and Inconsistency of the Religions then in use, who [Page 13]could easily have framed more rational Schemes, but were not sure they could find out the True one; and therefore were content to sit down by those they had, and make the best Sense of them they could.

In time indeed they ventured, many of them, to refine a little, and by degrees endeavoured to explain away what was most apparently Absurd; but this did not satisfie some, who being Men of more Heat and less Discretion, were for going faster, and thinking they knew more than all be­fore them, could not keep in the mighty Secret any longer. The Credulity, implicite Belief and Bigotry the World had been so long under, about things they had scarce any notion at all of, made them run now into the other Extreme; and so first Scepticism and then downright Atheism became the Learning and Wisdom of the World. These Men having found the World was mistaken in many things, began now to doubt of every thing, they began to question the Being of any God at all; and having shewn with Reason enough on their side the folly and weakness of the common Opinions, as they were then corrupted, 'twas so hard to see the little Truth that lay under them, that without Distinction they threw them all away; and setting up for themselves, entertained about almost all things new Opinions of their own, very different from what had been hitherto re­ceived, but not less Extravagant. And thus by [Page 14]different ways they came to all intents and pur­poses to the same end, and left the World in as ill a Condition as they found it, or rather made things worse; for perhaps 'tis better to act upon wrong Principles, than none at all; for then Men may be govern'd by those that are wiser than themselves, whereas the Men of no Principles can be govern'd neither by themselves nor others.

Some of the main Points about which the World, when they began to think freely, were employed, were these; First, They were much in the dark, whether there were such a thing as an Eternal Intelligent Being or not; if there were, wherein his Nature consisted, and what were his chief Attributes; and if there were one such Being, who was infinitely Wise and Good, whether there were not an Evil one Equal in Power to him; without which they could not account for the Origine of Evil, which was al­ways one great Difficulty. Next, if there were One Eternal Mind, and but One, which we call GOD, whether he made the World or not; if he did, whether he only put things into that Frame and Order they are now in, or whether he made the things themselves out of Nothing; If the former, for the latter was an Opinion that all their Philosophy was not able to compre­hend, whether this GOD were any other than the Soul of the World, animating the vast Mass of Matter, after the same manner as the Soul of [Page 15]Man actuates his little World. Again, if GOD were a Being intirely distinct from the Universe, with which many of them confounded him, whe­ther he did at all interest himself in the Govern­ment of the World, after he had made it; that is, whether there were any Providence or not, whether his Happiness did not consist in perpetual Ease and Rest, and consequently whether any Care or Thought of Business were not inconsi­stent with it; or if he did meddle and concern himself with the Government of Things, whe­ther this Care were not confin'd within certain Bounds, in looking after the great Springs and Wheels of the Machine, while the Sublunary things and this lower World were quite neglected; or if he took care of them too, whether this ex­tended to the Insensible and Vegetable part only, or to the Sensible and Rational; if to them, whe­ther he governed the Minds and Actions of Men, or only their involuntary Motions; if their Minds and Thoughts and Actions, whether by a chain of Causes link'd together in a perpetual and ne­cessary Order, or only by a Concurrence with their own free voluntary Motions; if the latter, whether Men were by that rendred capable of Moral Good and Moral Evil; if capable, whe­ther they were actually accountable to GOD for what they do; which supposes that there are fixt and unalterable Rules or Good and Evil, that these Rules are the Will of GOD, that he has declared this Will of his to Man; if so, what [Page 16]and how many are these Rules; when and where Revealed; are they all of Perpetual and Univer­sal Obligation or not; if some only, which are they; what Punishments are annext to the Vio­lation of them; when to be inflicted, in this Life or another; if in another, the Soul must be im­mortal and immaterial, and the Man must live again; besides many other Difficulties, which must be determined, before we can know whe­ther Man be actually accountable to GOD for what he does.

These, all these are Questions of great Importance, and such as the wisest Heathens could come to no certain Conclusions about: Some of them in­deed by an extraordinary Goodness of Mind have hit upon Noble Thoughts, and very much re­sembling Truth; but when well examined, they appear to be, what themselves could rather wish to be true, than be at all sure they were so. I shall give but one Instance of this, and that is in that excellent Discourse of Socrates before his Death; in which there are strange and surprizing Strokes of Truth, about the Immortality of the Soul, and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life. Who can without pity see the weak Efforts of the best Reason? who can forbear wishing him Success, or not be sorry, extremely sorry at his Disappointment, who has such noble Conclu­sions in view; but is utterly at a loss, by what certain Steps to get at them? One sees him [Page 17]through all along that piece, very earnest in the search af­ter and pursuit of Truth; he sometimes takes such true Steps, and pursues so closely, that one can't help thinking every minute, the next will be the last, he seems so very near it; and then loses his Scent a while, and then comes on again; which gives the Reader a very melancholy plea­sure, who can't but be in some sort disappointed himself, every time he sees He is. The Discourse thro'out must be own'd to be at first Sight very Beautiful; but if one view the Picture nicely, examine the several Parts of it, the Proportions and Reasons on which they are built, the whole will appear such a strange mixture of Truth and Error, full of such inconclusive Arguments, so like Dreaming of some Fairy Land, that one can't but wonder how it could come from the Hand of so great a Master, or be thought a finisht Piece by those that heard it. In truth, under all the Good-will he discovers for so good a Cause, one can't but observe with how much Diffidence himself speaks of it; much less can any body else be convinc'd by what he says, un­less such as come prepar'd to believe before they hear, and can take up with Conclusions first, and then look out for Premises, by which they may seem to others to have come to them.

So great was the Blindness and Ignorance the World was under about things of the greatest moment; I might proceed to shew that their [Page 18]Works also were Works of Darkness; that their Manners, generally speaking, were as cor­rupt as their Opinions; but the close Conne­xion there is between Religion and Morality makes this less necessary, nor have I time for it, if I would. How far this Corruption was in­evitable and invincible, I will not now dispute: Thus much is certain, the World either had no means to remove it, or at least did not know how to use them, and consequently would never have remov'd it, had not the Messiah in the ful­ness of Time been reveal'd to them. In Him the People that walked in Darkness, have seen a great Light: they that dwell in the Land of the Shadow of Death, upon them hath the Light shined. 'Twas He dispell'd these clouds which had so long hung over the Earth; He enlightned the World after this long and universal Dark, this black eternal Night.

Wherein this Enlightning the World consisted, was the Second thing I propos'd to speak to; which I shall do very briefly.

It consisted then in introducing a new State of things, a State in all its parts opposite to that I have been describing; in teaching the World all That is necessary for them to know of Divine things, of the Nature of GOD, and of Them­selves; in giving us just and true Notions of the Divine Providence, of his Wisdom and Good­ness [Page 19] in governing the World; in laying down excellent Rules of Living well, and teaching us the true nature of Moral Good and Evil; and lastly, in giving us a reasonable Worship, worthy of Man, and in some sort worthy his Creator.

Now the World is no longer at a loss to know what GOD is, what he Requires of us, and how he will be Served; now we have a certain Mea­sure of our Duty, we have fixt unalterable Rules to go by; we depend now no longer on our own Reason, or the Authority of others; we are di­rected by the highest Reason of the best Being, by the divine and infallible Guidance of the Son of GOD. Before, the World must either have follow'd the Dictates of some great Law-giver, or found out the Rules of their Duty for themselves. As to the former, no Man ever had or could have an Authority to prescribe to the rest of the World, nor was it safe he should, as appears from the great Imperfections, that are to be met with in the best Systemes of Human Laws: nor could they find out the Measure of their Duty them­selves; for that requires vast Abilities, capable of drawing a very long Chain of Consequences from a very few Principles; and therefore, if pos­sible, yet is it what much the greatest part of Man­kind have neither Capacity nor Opportunity for.

But this is but a part only of what our Saviour has done for us; to all this he has added great and precious Promises, to invite us to our Duty, and [Page 20]proportionable Threats to deter us from the con­trary: and that nothing might be wanting to compleat this great Redemption he hath wrought for us, that no one might complain he had not all due Assistance to enable him to do what is re­quired of him, he hath graciously promised his holy Spirit to all them that call upon him.

O! how thankful ought we all to be for this great Goodness of GOD to us, how careful not to undervalue it, as some do, who by a strange Ingratitude, because GOD hath suffered them to enjoy the Light, conclude there was no Darkness, and that the World would have been sufficiently enlightned, tho' GOD had done no­thing of all this for them. They deny the Ne­cessity of Revelation, and bring down the Su­blime Perfection of the Christian Religion to that which they call Natural: They can now prove to you from that all the Truths delivered in the Gospel, and argue against Revealed Reli­gion, from that very Light it furnishes them with: And so in truth beg the Question, while to prove they don't stand in need of Revelation, they produce as the Effect of their own un­assisted Reason what was really borrow'd from it. They distinguish not between Reason with, and without the helps the Scriptures give it; which yet are very different things, as different as it is to find out a thing, and assent to it when it is found out: a Man may as well say, he can move [Page 21]as regularly in the Dark as in the Light, because he hath in both the Faculty of Moving; as pre­tend he could reason as well without the Gospel, as he can under it, because he would have the Fa­culty of Reasoning then as well as now. Could these Men possibly efface the early Notices they receiv'd from Revelation, they would soon think more meanly of themselves, and see how small Advances we should make, if GOD in his Dis­pleasure had still left us to our selves: or, if ei­ther their great Opinion of themselves, or the real Difficulty of the thing hinder them from judging of the Strength, or rather Weakness of their own Reason, in case it were divested of the helps they have from Revelation, a little Learn­ing will serve the turn: let them look back into the first Histories of the earliest Times, let them read the best Discourses of the ablest Men, Men no way inferiour to them in Natural Abilities, Men of greater Industry, closer Thought and more Virtue; and then they will be easily convinc'd, unless they are resolved not to see, how few Con­clusions we are able to come to of our selves about Divine Matters, about GOD, Religion, Liberty, Morality, a future Judgment and Immortality.

There is great reason to think these Men con­tend for Natural Religion, not for its own sake, but to pull down that which is revealed; and were that once done, they would deal easily enough with this, and so get to their beloved [Page 22]Conclusion, That there is no Religion at all: They would then be very ingenious in shewing the Faults and Imperfections of what they now so much cry up, and would with Triumph prove, That they who have thrown off Revealed Reli­gion, cannot reasonably adhere to it; since the Difficulties against one, many of them at least, lie equally against the other, if one be absurd and too hard to be believed, so is the other, and no one, who can take up with the Principles of Natural Religion, can find it difficult to embrace the Christian.

But we have not so learned Christ, we see and know the great Things he hath done for us, that he is the true Light, and that the World was in Darkness before he came: He is the great Re­storer and Deliverer of Mankind from that Blindness and Ignorance the Degeneracy of their Nature had brought them under; 'twas He that formed anew, as it were, this Part of the Crea­tion, and gave again to Man an understanding Heart; He stampt again upon him the Image of his Maker, that Image, on which the Domi­nion of Man over the rest of the Creation was at first founded: which Preheminence before 'twas hard to see a reason for, he differed so very little from the Beasts that perish, but now hath GOD exalted him for ever, he hath once more made him a little lower than the Angels, he hath crowned him with Honour and Immortality, [Page 23]which is again brought to light by the Gospel of his Son. This is the Lord's doing, and is mar­vellous in our Eyes; for this should every Mouth be full of Thanksgiving, and every Tongue tell forth his Praise. 'Tis as impossible to have a Sense of these Favours, and not be thankful for them, as 'tis for those to be thankful, who have no Sense of them.

But this is not all, 'tis not enough to thank GOD on this wise: The Natural Consequence of what he has done for us, is to deny Ungod­liness and worldly Lusts, to have no Fellowship with the Unfruitful Works of Darkness, but to walk as Children of the Light and of the Day. The times of Darkness were times of Ignorance, and therefore GOD winked at them; but now since the Light of the Gospel is shed abroad, he commands all Men every where to repent. Our Duty rises in proportion to the Means GOD has furnished us with for the Performance of it; this every body is sensible of, this makes wicked Men so naturally plead Ignorance, this makes Men shut their Eyes so hard against the Light of the Gospel, as being conscious they are with­out excuse, if the Light really shines upon them, and they see it does so, and yet still work the Works of Darkness. Now if this be so, if our Duty increases as the Light does that is given us to work by, then are they under the greatest Obligations, who enjoy most of this Light: And [Page 24] therefore as the Jewish Dispensation obliged them to a greater Perfection and Holiness than what the Heathen World knew, so does Chri­stianity obliges us to a greater than either. We are taught that except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

By the same Argument a greater Degree of Piety, Charity, and other Virtues will be required of some parts of the Christian World above others, in as much as they enjoy greater Light, purer and less corrupted by Superstition, Igno­rance, and the remains of ancient Heathenism. This is the case of the Reformed Churches, in comparison not only of the Roman, but of any other Christian Church now in being: And if all the Reformed Churches enjoy not an equal Light, we have no reason to think any of them on this account more happy than our own. And indeed we are apt enough to own this, and please our selves with the thoughts of being of so pure a Church, where we have the Word of GOD constantly read and preached to us, fre­quent Sacraments, and daily Prayers: We are bred up to a rational and intelligible Devotion, we want neither the Substance nor Form of God­liness, we are taught to serve GOD with the purest Worship, and in the most decent Manner. But 'tis strange to see Men cry up this Church, [Page 25] and value themselves for being Members of it, and yet not see at the same time, how much more they have on this account to answer for; how by this means the great Plea of not know­ing or not being taught their Duty is wholy taken from them.

But I must not stop here; the Gradation from Heathenism to Judaism, and from thence to Chri­stianity in general, then to the Reformed parts of it, and last of all to our own Church, this Gra­dation must still be carried one step higher, from our Church to the Eyes of it the Universities. Here we meet with greater, much greater means of knowing and doing our Duty, than any other Place any where affords. And who does not see the Consequence of this? were a Man who had never seen or heard of such a Place as this before, for the first time made acquainted with the Insti­tution and Design of it, the Laws we are govern­ed by, the Care and Discipline and Method of instruction, and lastly the great and good Ex­amples we live under; how would he long after the Original of so fair a Picture, how desirous would he be to see this Beauty of our Earth? He would expect Learning to run down among us like a Stream, and Righteousness like a Flood; he would expect to meet every where with bright and shining Instances of Piety and Holiness, of Industry and Temperance, of Charity, Patience and Humility; in short; something far beyond the Improvements the rest of the World are capable of.

But I need not suppose what Thoughts a Man would have, who never saw any thing of a Uni­versity beyond the Scheme and Model of it; we are pretty well convinced, that this is what the World expects of us: for if they did not look for something very perfect, they would think our Imperfections a great deal less, than we find they are apt to do. Which should be an addi­tional Argument to us to walk worthy of the Light we have; for our Light is not like the Pillar that led the Israelites of old, a Light to them it was to guide, and Dark to all besides; as we have this Light, so every body sees we have it, and from thence are ready to take all advantages against us. I think we may without great Partiality to our selves say, We are not fairly dealt with in this matter; Envy and Ill-nature and a Spirit of Phanaticism, both as to the Civil and Religious State, have certainly a great share in the loud Complaints against us; and they that rail at us for being no better, are many of them really sorry, we are no worse. Men who design to destroy all Principles of Religion and Govern­ment, can't with patience see those Places flou­rish, which are so directy opposite to such De­signs, whose very End is to instill true Notions of these things, and root out all destructive Opi­nions whatsoever. Which makes Atheists and Deists necessarily Enemies to our very Constitu­tion, for These are the Banks that keep out their pernicious Doctrines from breaking in upon the Nation. Not that these are all the Enemies we [Page 27] have; a little Truth mixed with a great deal of Calumny, has made our Faults appear much greater than they are; by which means other and better Men have been unhappily influenced to the Prejudice of these Places.

But how unjust soever these Complaints are, we may make a right use of them, by mending what ever is amiss, by walking more circumspectly, and giving no Occasion to the Adversary. 'Tis the Fate of Persons and Places that are Eminent; the more they are so, the more they are expos'd to publick View, and consequently Censure; for many, a great many take a View of them, not to admire their Beauty or Excellency, but to find some Fault with them, and then are most disappointed when they find fewest. And as this is generally one of the Disadvantages of a high Station, so it is in a peculiar manner, and for particular reasons, the Fortune or rather Fate of those Illustrious Bodies the Universities.

But to return from this Digression, which a just Sense of the Light we live under, the Obli­gations it laies on us, and the Restlesness of our Enemies has led me to; where much is given, much is required, and in return of great Favours, great Duties become due from us; and if we would be the better for the Light that is come into the World, we must endeavour to deserve it; we can have no benefit in the bright Shining of the Gospel, unless we renounce the hidden [Page 28]Pleasures of the Night. GOD did not give us this Light to glory in our Shame, and shew that we can be wicked still, that we can abuse his Grace, and dare produce those Monsters into open Day, which before were shrowded under the cover of the Dark. No, what was then excusable, is now no longer so; to prefer the absurd Pleasures of Sin before the Beauty and Comeliness of Virtue, when our Eyes are open, and in the day, this is very unnatural and unpardonable, this proves we want common Sense as well as common Gratitude, this can't but be highly provoking to Almighty GOD, who bestow'd these Favours on us to quite other Purposes. Let us not there­fore any longer distinguish our time as Christians into Light and Darkness, and think we have the night still left to revel in: the Darkness now will not cover us, the Darkness is no Darkness to us, the Light is as clear as the Day, the Darkness and Light to us are both alike. For since the Sun of Righteousness is risen, since He that was in the be­ginning Light, Eternal Light, is come down among us and become the Light of Men; to this new State agrees the Description St. John gives us of the New Jerusalem, with which I shall conclude. The City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it; for the Glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof.